A Tough Decision
by cherryXbomb
Summary: Dawn has been in foster care for ages when someone from her past comes back. [AU]


A Tough Decision 

"Dawn, its time for dinner!" Amara Harper shouted up the stairs to her newest adopted daughter.

Dawn Summers glanced up from her homework. She wasn't the same Dawnie Summers that was known in Sunnydale. She had cut her long light brown hair to her shoulders and died it a really dark shade of brown. Defiant red streaks coursed down the style. Her slender and tall body was hidden in a pair of faded denim cargo jeans and a tight black halter top. The freckles were still sprinkled across her nose. Her crystal blue eyes had turned stormy under the blanket of depression she had lived in for the last three years. She was no longer fourteen-year-old sunny Dawn Summers. She was now seventeen and struggling to lead a normal life with her lesbian adopted parents and two sisters.

"Dawn!" Amara shouted again.

Dawn ran down the stairs and sat in her place at the dinner table between Rachel Collins and Elle Richardson. Rachel had pale blonde hair that fell to her lower back and brown eyes that peered out and stared down the whole world. She was eighteen and had lived with the Harper's since she was five. Elle had black hair and charcoal eyes that shone with hatred for the world. She was only thirteen yet had seen more terrors than many people her elder… except for Dawn. She had only lived with Amara and Kiley for five years. Dawn was the new one, living with the Harper's only two and a half years. As Dawn took her seat at the family table, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Kiley asked, answering the kitchen phone.

"H-h-hello. Is D-d-dawn S-summers t-there?" a stuttering voice asked from the other end.

"May I ask who is speaking?" Kiley asked.

"T-Tara Maclay," the voice answered. She took a deep breath and continued. "I knew Dawn back in Sunnydale."

"Here she is," Kiley said. Rachel began to jump up and Kiley shouted, "Dawn! It's for you."

Dawn walked into the kitchen and took the phone. "Hello?" she asked.

"Dawnie!" Tara practically shouted through the phone.

"Tara! Oh my god!" Dawn shouted, returning the enthusiasm. "How are things in Sunnydale? How are you? How's Xander and Anya? Have you seen them lately?"

"Whoa Dawnie. I can only answer one question at a time. I'll start with how I am. I'm good. And I'm in Madison for a Wicca convention and was wondering if you could get out to go have a shake?" Tara asked.

"I'll ask. But first I have to eat dinner. Kiley and Amara cooked spaghetti and it's really good."

"Who are they?"

"My adopted moms. What's the number to your hotel room?" Dawn asked, her voice filled with happiness unheard since her sister's death.

Tara gave her the number and Dawn hung up the white phone. She bounced into the kitchen. Rachel looked up. "Okay, what did that phone do to my sister?"

"Kiley, Amara… can I go out with Tara tonight?" Dawn asked, sliding into her seat.

"What happened to that Conner guy you were going with?" Kiley asked.

"Wrong kind of going out," Dawn clarified, putting the steaming hot spaghetti onto her plate.

"Where will you be going?" Amara asked, handing each of the girls some garlic bread.

"We'll be going out for a shake and talking," Dawn responded.

"Be back before ten," Amara said, glancing at Kiley for confirmation. Kiley nodded and Dawn began digging in.

Dawn and Tara sat outside of Lickity-Split, the best ice cream spot in Madison. Tara hadn't changed at all since everything had happened. Her hair was still blonde and long. Her eyes hadn't changed their hues as a side effect of losing her lover.

"So, Dawn, how are you coping?" Tara asked, breaking the silence.

"My psychologist says I'm doing better. I can't tell them why Buffy died or anything. Or how Willow died or why I ran away. I feel like I'm always talking in code," Dawn told the blonde Wicca.

"Why did you run away? You scared Xander and Anya and me so much."

"I couldn't stand staying in Sunnydale. I started just going to the tower every night but I couldn't go there. When it fell down it was like something broke inside of me. I had to get out of Sunnydale. Willow had just died and everything was crap. If I didn't get out of there then, I'd regret it. I'm sorry I didn't call or anything," Dawn told her friend.

"So you ended up here?"

"Yeah. I ended up here and then I met Kiley and Amara. They found out I didn't have anyone and I had been living in the park, staking vampires and saving a few people… well, they didn't find out my activities, but they took me in. They went through the legal process and I got a family."

"You had a family in Sunnydale. Are… are your adoptive parents lesbians?" Tara asked uncomfortably.

"Yeah. I couldn't feel secure in a straight family. In the whole time I was real, I only knew you and Will as my safety. Sure there were Spike and Xander and Anya and Giles and Buffy, but you two showed me what happiness was. How did you find me?" Dawn asked, tears stinging her dark blue eyes.

"Locator spell. I'd do the spell every couple of nights and then when my magick grew, I'd watch you through a window and sometimes send a little shimmer out to see you. Did you ever get them?" Tara asked.

"Yeah. I would hear your voice and sometimes Anya's and sometimes even Xander's or Spike's. I never thought it was actually you guys. Wait, your magick grew?"

"Yeah. I found one of… one of Willow's amulets. Th-there was a n-note and it said that she wanted me to have it. I watched as it was written. What did Buffy tell you on that tower?"

"She told me to be brave and that I had to watch out for you guys. I couldn't though. I was still little weak Dawnie so I had to leave. Is everyone in Sunnydale okay?"

"Oh yeah. Spike and Xander have started to get along. And Spike, he lives at the house in the basement. We still keep your bedroom for you. Nothing's changed in it if you want to come home. I mean… not that you have to or like that was the whole purpose of this trip but—" Tara began.

"I've thought about going back to Sunnydale. I just can't right now though. I still have so much to work through," Dawn interrupted.

"Like what?" Tara asked.

"Like being not real… like being the new Slayer… like trying to find myself," Dawn said, the tears now forming salty rivulets down the teen's face.

"You're a Slayer?"

"Buffy died. Another was called. That was me," Dawn elaborated.

"Then you need to return to the Hellmouth Dawnie. Now it's not about ready, its about responsibility," Tara told the teen.

"Tara, there's stuff going on here too that I can't leave," Dawn said, biting her crimson lower lip.

"Like what?" Tara asked curiously.

"My inner demons. I don't want to turn out like Faith and go bad. I'm trying to face my inner demons," Dawn said crying.

Tara wrapped her arms around the brunette in a tight embrace. "Dawnie. Sometimes, you can only face your inner demons by looking them in the face."

"I'm trying."

Tara held the remaining Summers out at arms length and smiled, tears streaking down her face. "Dawnie, if there's one thing I know about, its about facing my demons. I've had to face so many and now I'm getting used to it. If you keep running, they are just going to come back and bite you in the ass. I don't want to sound harsh and demanding. But sometimes I have to tell you what I think. Going back and defeating the evils is what Buffy would've wanted."

"Dawnie… Tara's right," a British voice said from behind her. Dawn glanced up and saw that the sky had turned dark. She turned around and faced the platinum blonde vampire that she had once loved so much.

"Spike?" Dawn gasped.

"That's me love. Now you need to listen to Tara here and bugger up because now, you have a calling. Okay, so you're not real. Who is these days? I'm not a real vamp, but you don't see me runnin' away from who I am. No, you see me fightin with the white hats cuz that's who I am!"

"Spike," Tara said, her voice inching on a warning.

"No Tara. I'm tellin the Lil Bit what she needs to know. We are going to talk to your adoptive parents and then we are going back to Sunnydale. You are going to learn how to deal with your demons!"

Dawn shook her head and the three stood up. "Spike. I need you to go back to Sunnydale," Tara told the vampire.

"Bring back the Little Bit. I made a promise to a lady and I'll be staked before I break it," Spike said, turning and starting towards his motorcycle.

Dawn and Tara walked back to Dawn's new house and sat on the porch. "Why should I go back?" Dawn asked.

"Because we need you," Tara answered, finally able to find the right words.

"If Kiley and Amara don't mind, I'll go back and see you guys for a month. If I don't like it or can't handle it, I'm coming back here," Dawn said bluntly.

"Deal," Tara agreed. The two girls walked inside and talked to Kiley and Amara. They agreed as long as Dawn would come see them every other weekend.

A month later, Dawn had gone back up to Kiley and Amara's. She had just made the hardest decision of her life. Giving her surrogate mothers one last hug, she grabbed her duffel bag and walked out to Xander's car. She was going home with a promise to visit every other weekend as much as possible. They made plans for Dawnie's eighteenth birthday and watched as their newest daughter went back to where she was needed.


End file.
